Beckerman Sentenced To 10 Years In Jail

Fined $40,000

HARTFORD — On his 79th birthday, arsonist William Beckerman was sentenced to 10 years in prison and ordered to pay $40,000 in fines for torching his West Hartford home 15 months ago.

Judge Thomas V. O'Keefe Jr., who heard the evidence against Beckerman and found him guilty March 16 of two counts of first-degree arson, rejected pleas from Beckerman's lawyer and daughter to take into account Beckerman's health and age and impose a short sentence.

"When it comes to punishment for arson, there is no senior citizen discount," O'Keefe said.

The judge also said that his sentence needed to be a deterrent to others considering arson.

"This is the kind of crime committed by people who weigh the risks," O'Keefe said. "I'm going to make an example of Mr. Beckerman so anyone else thinking about this thinks twice."

The sentencing hearing at Superior Court in Hartford lasted about an hour. Judicial marshals escorted Beckerman, dressed in an orange jumpsuit and wearing a yarmulke on his head, into a courtroom crowded with firefighters who battled the blaze, three of Beckerman's children and several of his friends.

Beckerman wore a toupee throughout his two-month trial, but it was seized by state Department of Correction officials when he was incarcerated after his conviction. Beckerman's mustache and the hair on the back of his head, formerly jet-black, have begun to go gray.

West Hartford fire Capt. Walter S. Blair III, representing the firefighters who battled the Feb. 11, 2009, blaze at 27 The Crossways, told O'Keefe that fighting fires in basements is especially hazardous. Had firefighters tried to descend into the basement to attack the fire, they probably would have been badly hurt or killed when an explosion known as a flashover occurred. Five firefighters were hurt fighting the fire.

Prosecutor Donna Mambrino urged the judge to send Beckerman to prison for 15 years and to discount comments by Beckerman's children, made in a pre-sentencing report, that Beckerman is "kind, honest and caring," and has a love for animals.

"A kind, honest and caring man does not get convicted of filing fraudulent income tax returns, failure to file an income tax return, conspiracy to defraud the United States and two counts of arson in the first degree," Mambrino said, referring to previous crimes for which Beckerman was convicted and served 18 months in federal prison. The government also had a lien for more than $300,000 on the property, she said.

"Everyone talks about how Bill Beckerman cares for animals and would not even kill an insect in his house, but it's obvious he did not care for any of the West Hartford firefighters when he set his house on fire using accelerants and trailers," she said.

Beckerman's daughter, Sherri Valentino, told the judge that her father has always helped his family and friends, sometimes financially. She urged the judge to not just see Beckerman as a man found guilty of arson. "People are complicated," she said.

O'Keefe said that sentencing people to prison is not easy, especially in Beckerman's case, because it could be a life sentence. "The hardest part is the effect of this on the family," he said. But in this case, the judge said, he had no reservations.

"I can't be overly concerned with the effect my sentence is going to have on Mr. Beckerman's family," O'Keefe said. "He should have thought about that."

O'Keefe said he did not take the federal tax convictions into account when determining his sentence for the arson, but he said that they gave him reason not to lower his sentence.

Beckerman, the judge said, is "the type of person who thinks the rules we live by are for others."

He also took aim at Beckerman for placing the lives of firefighters at risk.

"One of the bad parts of this case is that it injured hard-working, courageous, dedicated public servants," the judge said. "What do they get in return? A living wage and a nice retirement, if some arsonist doesn't kill them."

Beckerman continues to maintain his innocence, and his lawyer, David Kritzman, said that Beckerman plans to appeal. Kritzman asked the judge to release Beckerman on bail while that appeal is pending. The judge denied the request.

O'Keefe heard the evidence against Beckerman during a trial that lasted about two months. The lawyers offered their closing arguments on March 16, and it took O'Keefe two hours to decide that Beckerman was guilty.

State police and insurance company investigators picking through the wreckage of Beckerman's home found evidence of a gasoline/kerosene mixture poured throughout the basement and paper wound through a dresser and over other furniture and then stuck into a lawn mower's gas tank.

Photographs of that lawn mower submitted as evidence during the trial were key, the judge said. Those photographs, the judge said, "are pictures of an arsonist's calling card. There is no innocent explanation of a gas tank with a wick in it."